Revelation 9:1And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star [an angel] fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. 9:2And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

Evil spirits are released from their place of restraint to torment mankind.

9:3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 9:4And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

The seal of God is the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

The 144,000 were sealed with the Holy Spirit just before the first trumpet plague began to be sounded, but there have been untold multitudes of other people sealed with God’s Spirit through history,

These evil spirits will have no power over the 144,000 who were sealed with God’s Spirit after the tribulation, or over the many others who will also be living during that time having received the seal of God’s promise [the Holy Spirit] before and during the tribulation.

Revelation 9:5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them [the wicked], but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. 9:6And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

Keep the timeline in mind; there will be five months of torment for the wicked, from which all those sealed [not just the 144,000] with God’s Spirit are protected.

9:7And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses [since their appearance is like war horses the term locusts must refer to a swarm; a great mass of these beings who also had wings and flew like locusts] prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. 9:8And they had hair as the hair of women and their teeth were as the teeth of lions [very powerful jaws] .

9:9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron [armoured bodies and wings to fly with]; and [there was such a vast number of them that their wings sounded like a great army of horsemen] the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.

In the past some have speculated that this was John’s way of describing armies of men. That is not possible since these creatures cannot kill. No, these are not Apache or Cobra helicopters! They are a vast army of a specific type of demon who follow the Adversary of God, Satan the devil; and are permitted by God to torment the wicked on the earth for five months precisely.

9:10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. 9:11And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon [The Destroyer, utter destruction, perdition, damnation; in the sense that he leads to destruction by causing to rebel against God.], but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon [the same meaning as the Hebrew; Destroyer].

9:12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

Some have speculated that these creatures are symbols of modern war machines. There is a serious problem with that idea. War machines kill, these creatures do not (Rev 9:6).

The Sixth Trumpet

The Second Woe

9:13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 9:14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.

Now comes the third year of the 3 1/2 years, when God begins to deliver his people.

Revelation 9:15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. 9:16And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.

This is the time when Europe will become fearful at rumors from Asia and shall launch a first strike attack; after which Asia will respond with a huge attack overwhelming Europe and the Middle East, and then gather for the final battle against the false prophet and beast taking refuge in Jerusalem.

Revelation 11:44 But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. 11:45And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain [when Europe is devastated he shall go to Jerusalem (Dan 11:40) along with the false prophet]; yet he shall come to his end [Jesus Christ shall come to destroy them, along with the attacking armies of Asia; and he will deliver Jerusalem, all Israel and all humanity and establish the Kingdom of God over all the earth.], and none shall help him.

The timeline: First, five months of torment by demons, followed by one year, one month and one day of a huge war in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. When we add the two timelines up, we have one year and six months and one day from the time that these demons are released on humanity until the seventh trump is sounded!

My point is that all of these seven trumpets are NOT sounded on the same day!

Revelation 9:17 And thus I saw the [armies of Asia, and this time the reference is to physical armies] horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone [this is a clear reference to modern military machines and the burnt cordite of gun and rocket fire].

One third of humanity will be killed in this massive thirteen month European / Asian war which also overwhelms the Middle East.

9:18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone[gun and rocket fire and aerial bombs], which issued out of their mouths [out of the muzzles of their weapons]. 9:19 For their power is in their mouth [Firing like modern weaponry, which can fire both to the front and to the rear.] , and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.

At this point in time neither the Gentiles nor Israel are truly repentant of their wickedness; and while Israel begins to seek deliverance from God, for the most part they still not repentant of their wickedness just yet.

9:20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:9:21Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication [yes physically, but also their spiritual disloyalty to God], nor of their thefts.

This event refers to the fallen angels who were bound and were then released to use human armies to kill a large part of humanity.

This comes with the New Europe attack on Asia and the response of Asia to a European attack on them in the third year after the occupation of Jerusalem begins. This army will advance, killing one third of mankind; for a year, a month and a day (Rev 9:15). At the end of which they will be massed at Har Megiddo for the final battle against the European power (Babylon Zec 14), which will be occupying Jerusalem (Rev 11:2).

The resurrection to spirit of the dead in Christ will take place when the seventh angel begins to sound his trumpet (Rev 10). Then Christ will come to gather up his elect and take them to the Marriage of the Lamb n heaven. A few days later Christ will come WITH his saints to destroy the massed armies and to gather up and arrest Satan and his demons from around the earth finally establishing God the Father’s Kingdom over all the earth on the Feast of Pentecost!

Therefore the resurrection will come; and then be followed by a short time period when the armies mass at Megiddo for the final battle and the seven last plagues are poured out; while the Marriage of the Lamb takes place in heaven.

After this very short period of the heavenly marriage feast, Jesus Christ will return WITH his saints to intervene and take control; and then establish the Kingdom of God over all the earth as per Zechariah 14 and Joel 2:28; on the Feast of Pentecost!

The Kingdom will be established on Pentecost; the actual battle of Zechariah 14 may begin some days before Pentecost.

It is AFTER the resurrection [at end of the sixth day of Unleavened Bread] and during the short period up until Pentecost, that the seven last plagues will be poured out on the earth.

Since Jerusalem will be occupied for 42 months and the New Europe will have power to make war for 42 months this “Time of Jacob’s Trouble” will end when these armies are defeated, the demons gathered up to prison and the political and religious leaders are thrown into the lake of fire.

Revelation 19:20And the beast [political ruler] was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

Subtracting the 1260 days from the total 1335 days, during which the final great false prophet will deceive (Dan 12), means that the tribulation will begin about 75 days after the abomination is set up doing miracles.

However, Christ could easily come to defeat the armies, Satan and his demons, a few days before Pentecost; followed by a few days wait for Pentecost when God’s Spirit will be poured out. That means that the tribulation could start with the occupation of Jerusalem even before the 75th day that the abomination is set up doing miracles.

This is why I always say the tribulation will begin “about 75 days” after the abomination is set up. In fact it could begin several days before the 75th day after this man of sin is set up.

1335 days from the setting up of the man of sin to his destruction

Tribulation to begin 75 days or less after the wicked one is set up

1260 days from the occupation of Jerusalem to the liberation of the city and the end of the man of sin

Then when the nations have repented and the Feast of Pentecost is fully come, God will pour out his Holy Spirit on all flesh, changing the natures of man and beast (Joel 2:28).